The Abominable Sadism of "Alligator Auschwitz"

[Native]

Slated to open this week, Florida’s new detention center will have more than a little in common with a Nazi concentration camp.

Floridians know what it’s like to wait weeks or months for government aid after a natural disaster. But amazingly, Governor Ron DeSantis has worked with federal officials to create a harsh outdoor tent-based detention camp in the Everglades that state officials are proudly calling “Alligator Alcatraz.” They will probably finish this concentration camp for 3,000 detained migrants, complete with showers, this week. It’s expected to cost about $450 million a year, and will be funded using FEMA funds.

The people who wind up there will be mainly chosen by ethnicity, and almost certainly be convicted of no crime. The lawmakers’ goal is not merely confinement but suffering. At least the poor souls who wound up at Alcatraz, California’s infamous island prison, got due process. They were deterred from escaping by freezing cold waters and the rumor of sharks; these prisoners will be in mosquito-infested swampland surrounded by alligators and pythons. (Trump wanted to reopen Alcatraz, which was transformed from a prison to a museum about 40 years ago; now he is getting his own version.)

But Republicans are bragging about their cruel ingenuity, and using it as a fundraising tool. The Florida Republican Party is selling “Alligator Alcatraz” swag (I’m not linking; trust me). The camp, without air-conditioning, is expected to open this week, as temperatures top 100 degrees.

Not surprisingly, Trump is expected to attend the opening of his “Alligator Alcatraz” on Tuesday. Luckily, a wide coalition of Florida environmentalists, Indian tribal leaders, immigrant activists and clergy are expected to be out in force, despite the swampy heat. We can’t be numbed into complacency by the constant onslaught of indecency. We’re entering a new realm of cruelty porn.

https://www.thenation.com/article/politics/sadism-alligator-auschwitz/